A 48-year-old Shingletown man arrested last month in the death of a woman whose body was found in a rock crevice in the same area where a wildfire was burning was ordered to stand trial on murder, arson and other charges.

Frank Alexander Berry, who ran a barbershop in Shingletown, sat quietly Thursday as Shasta County Superior Court Judge Cara Beatty bound him over for trial following an afternoon-long preliminary hearing.

Berry, who is being held in Shasta County Jail in lieu of $2.5 million bail, is due to return to Superior Court on Sept. 26 for the possible setting of his trial date.

He has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him.

Sheriff's investigators and prosecutors laid out their case against Berry during the preliminary hearing in the death of Anna Louise Coker, but the exact cause of her death has not yet been determined, pending final autopsy results.

Coker's badly burned body was found Aug. 15 in a crevice between some large boulders as firefighters were working on a 2-acre fire near La Tour Butte.

Authorities allege Berry killed her, possibly by striking her over the head with a whiskey bottle and then trying to cover up the crime by starting the fire.

Coker and Berry had been dating over the past several weeks before her death, sheriff's officials said.

Sheriff's investigators testified Coker had an encounter with Berry as he was camping near Battle Creek Reservoir the day before the woman's body was found.

When firefighters showed up to the La Tour Butte Fire they saw Berry kicking dirt on a campfire with flames about 6-feet high, according to a sheriff's report filed in Superior Court.

They also said Berry was acting "jittery" and kept pacing back and forth from a vehicle to the campfire, the sheriff's report says.

Firefighters also told detectives they noticed a laptop, a cell phone and "what appeared to be women's jewelry burnt inside the fire pit," according to the sheriff's report.

Detectives spoke to a witness who works for the company that manages the Battle Creek Reservoir campground.

That witness told detectives another man had told him Berry hit Coker on the head with a bottle, knocking her to the ground, where she remained unconscious for at least 45 minutes, according to a sheriff's report.

Another witness also reportedly told detectives Berry stated in another conversation, "I don't know what happened. When I left she was alive, when I came back she was dead."

Investigator Kenneth Koenen testified that a search of Berry's travel trailer yielded blood in the kitchen and living room area. Smeared blood was also found on walls, chairs and doors, the report says.

There was also an "overwhelming smell of bleach," as if someone had attempted to clean up the blood with it, he said.

Berry was arrested Aug. 18 after detectives found him in a vehicle along Highway 44 in Viola in eastern Shasta County. He was wearing a disguise that included a fake mustache, glasses, an oversize hat and eyebrows that had been colored with a felt pen, they said.